Starring Uhm Jung-hwa and Oh Ji-ho, it was based on the real-life love story of Lee Ju-young, the CEO of a TV production company who reunited with her husband, pro-golfer Go Man-soo, ten years after breaking up with him.
[2] It revolved around three couples entangled in love and rivalry as they work for the Queens Food corporation, played by Kim Nam-joo, Oh Ji-ho, Lee Hye-young, Choi Cheol-ho, Yoon Sang-hyun and Sunwoo Sun.
Queen of Housewives topped the ratings chart during its run (with a peak of 31.7%), started new fashion and makeup trends among married women (or ajummas), and also served as Yoon Sang-hyun's breakout vehicle.
While her previous drama depicted the lives of Korean housewives and their under-appreciated efforts, Park's next series explored the hardships of working women who must also juggle being wives and mothers as soon as they get home.
[5] Kim played a strong-willed, ruthless career woman who quits work after getting married, but a happy domestic life eludes her as her husband (Jung Joon-ho) struggles professionally.
[11] The plot centered on a successful TV director (Kim) who marries an orphaned doctor (Yoo Jun-sang), but her husband finds his biological parents and they happen to be her next-door neighbors with whom she bickers on a daily basis; she now faces the unexpected burden of having to build a relationship with her new-found in-laws and their sprawling extended family.
[12][13] Producer Kim Sung-geun attributed its success to the increasing popularity of TV dramas that portray the lives of working women in their 30s and 40s, a genre in which Park is one of the most high-profile Korean screenwriters.
She cast Jun Ji-hyun (in her first TV drama in 14 years) and Kim Soo-hyun in a tale about an alien who landed on Earth in the Joseon Dynasty, disguising his identity for over four centuries and becoming cynical about human beings, until he falls in love with a top actress in the modern era.
[20][21] In an op-ed piece published by the China Daily, writer Xiao Lixin attributed its success to "great innovations in South Korean TV productions in terms of themes and narrative patterns," praising the plot as "logical and fast-paced" interspersed with "whimsy and romantic punch lines.
Park has denied the claims, posting on the website of production company HB Entertainment a detailed account of how she came up with the idea many years ago, and swore that she "had never heard of or read Seol-hee.
Focusing on rebirth, fate, and unrequited love, their tale is juxtaposed with the parallel story of their Joseon era incarnations, town head Kim Dam-ryeong and the mermaid Se-hwa.